The Match of the Day Thread

[john e]

It was a penalty,
 but I'm only saying that because of the MOTD knee thing, before that I thought it was never a pen and we got lucky

[Concrete John]

Thought Shearer and Murphy did alright, especially compared with Crooks & Keown on Final score, 2 of the worse pundits ever.

Saw a bit of them (Crooks and Keown) yesterday.  The presenter tried to turn it to the Villa perspective and it fairness Crook was quite complimentary about us, but Keown just kept on about Arsenal.  Such clear bias to the point of not being able to do your job properly should result in the sack.

Agreed.Keown might have as well worn an Arsenal shirt.Garth Crooks seems always to be fair and makes some astute comments,completely different to his infamous interviews of players.

Just to point out, I still remain of the opinion that Garth Crooks is an utter cock.

[rob_bridge]

Thought Shearer and Murphy did alright, especially compared with Crooks & Keown on Final score, 2 of the worse pundits ever.

Saw a bit of them (Crooks and Keown) yesterday.  The presenter tried to turn it to the Villa perspective and it fairness Crook was quite complimentary about us, but Keown just kept on about Arsenal.  Such clear bias to the point of not being able to do your job properly should result in the sack.

Agreed.Keown might have as well worn an Arsenal shirt.Garth Crooks seems always to be fair and makes some astute comments,completely different to his infamous interviews of players.

Garth Crooks and astute. Now there's two words that one rarely sees in the same sentence.

He said 'some astute'. I find that to be the case on Final Score. As for player / manager interviews - don't go there. Like some 4th rate teenage psycotherapist wannabe.

Lawrenson - he can do one. The laziest, most boring cliched of all of them. Should have been booted out a long time ago. He was stale as soon as he started. I remember one time Torres (at Liverpool of course) had a goal disallowed for being just offside, he was moaning about the referee guessing the decision, not sure how he had access to said referee's inner most thoughts. Also don't referees have linesmen/women to assist in such decisions. Twat.

[SoccerHQ]

Another thing they didn't show that I was keen to see again, 10 minutes to go and Wilshere goes down in the area, was up the other end and was sure he was going to give a pen, was it a dive?

[eamonn]

It was a penalty,
 but I'm only saying that because of the MOTD knee thing, before that I thought it was never a pen and we got lucky

Like most on here, I think! Unless it was a "double penalty".

[Steve67]

Good to see match of the day back with Manchester United at the top of the show.  Quelle Surprise!!  Sycophantic arseholes.  And then they show the Villa game and it's more about Arsenal being poor than Villa working their socks off and claiming an easy win, just because Arsenal haven't signed anyone.  The Villa boys really want it.  They are hungry for the game.  Oh, and Jack Wilshere is a spoilt show pony little twat who falls over a lot. 

Penalty?  Yes, even my Bluenose wife said so!! 

[Dave]

10 minutes to go and Wilshere goes down in the area, was up the other end and was sure he was going to give a pen, was it a dive?

Don't think so, he was just crowded out. Players can lose their footing without it being either a foul or a dive.

[jcsutv]

606 was funny. Savage putting a 16 year old Arsenal fan in his place. Spoilt twat was saying he has supported Arsenal for 8 years and they haven't won anything in that time. The two Arsenal midfielders kept being fouled and when they complained to the ref they get booked. It's a real shame. I have to say I enjoy listening to Savage. As for MOTD Shearer is the best pundit they can offer.

[Dave Cooper please]

It was a penalty,
 but I'm only saying that because of the MOTD knee thing, before that I thought it was never a pen and we got lucky

I thought it was a penalty from the start, yes he touched the ball but gabby would still have got to it because he didn't divert it at all. Lucky not to get a straight red actually.

[Percy McCarthy]

The rules haven't changed. Gabby was taken out before the ball was even touched, even then you have to at least take the ball away from the run of the player for it to be a proper tackle before you hack the player down. Definite penalty and very good refereeing.

Not quite D. Johnson slid in and touched the ball, but only edged it invitingly into Gabby's path. On the follow through he brought Gab down. The fact that it was a penalty even though he touched the ball first was beyond the comprehension of every single bluenose in the world.

[Somniloquism]

Well according to Bluenoses and Greavsie, Luna must have been offside for the 3rd goal.

[pauliewalnuts]

Well according to Bluenoses and Greavsie, Luna must have been offside for the 3rd goal.

Someone should tell them you can't be offside in your own half - and he was at least 20 feet inside his own half when the ball was played.

[pauliewalnuts]

The rules haven't changed. Gabby was taken out before the ball was even touched, even then you have to at least take the ball away from the run of the player for it to be a proper tackle before you hack the player down. Definite penalty and very good refereeing.

Not quite D. Johnson slid in and touched the ball, but only edged it invitingly into Gabby's path. On the follow through he brought Gab down. The fact that it was a penalty even though he touched the ball first was beyond the comprehension of every single bluenose in the world.

I made a similar point on the match thread.

That whole "he touched the ball, therefore it can't be a foul" thing is a total misinterpretation of the laws of the game - it is nonsense, but it gets spouted an awful lot, as if getting a touch on the ball excuses everything else. It doesn't.

MON's take down of Roger Johnson on that point was excellent.

As Dave said, though, it turns out that Gabby had actually been taken out before the defender touched the ball in any case, so all further discussion of what happened after that point is moot.

[Somniloquism]

Well according to Bluenoses and Greavsie, Luna must have been offside for the 3rd goal.

Someone should tell them you can't be offside in your own half - and he was at least 20 feet inside his own half when the ball was played.

I was taking the mick from their moans about the Dean Saunders goal in 94.

[CJ]

Hansen back on MOTD2 tonight and, as predicted, his first sentence includes 'pass and move'